Courses

Peer To Peer Micro-Workshops

SMARTY offers micro-workshops through our Peer to Peer Program from experts culled from our community on an application basis. P2P leaders share their expertise on everything from public speaking, social media strategy, legal basics for small business and overall business planning. Business owners need to keep their finger on the pulse of market developments and continually educate themselves, and our P2P Program allows for quick, efficient tutorials. P2P’s give you a working vocabulary on hundreds of topics. Offered monthly. Free to Members at the Big SMARTY level, $25 for guests.

Peer to Peer Program Leaders 2012-2013

There’s nothing like a 1,000 watt presence to make you realize you either have the “it” factor…or you don’t. Fortunately, you don’t have to be born with star qualities, you can actually buy them. Actress Alexa Fischer has turned normal civilians into major public speakers, and wallflowers into power-brokers. Your presence speaks before you do and Alexa knows how to turn up the volume easily and painlessly and uses her wealth of knowledge as a seasoned performer to bring mere mortals into the limelight. The results? Less Fear. More gigs. And maybe some fame if you’re a really dedicated student! She is a graduate of Northwestern University, B.S. in Speech, and The Yale School of Drama, M.F.A. in Acting.

Marley Majcher is a serial entrepreneur, a graduate of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, author of the sure-to-be-bestseller, But Are You Making Any Money? and the CEO of The Party Goddess!, a nationally acclaimed full service catering and event planning company that originates all aspects of large scale functions for social and corporate clients alike. Her celebrity clients include Britney Spears, Katherine Heigl, Pierce Brosnan, Snoop Dogg and Jennifer Love Hewitt as well as corporate clients such as Cedars-Sinai, Earthlink and Whole Foods Market. She has also produced notable events for the Hollywood Bowl, the Critics’ Choice Awards and luxury car manufacturers Porsche and Rolls Royce’s Bentley brands. From understated elegance to rock star fabulous, She is known for creating the most talked about parties of the year.

Marley also had numerous appearances on every major television network as well as E!, HGTV and Lifetime, as well as featured articles and interviews in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Fortune, People, OK!, Us Weekly, In Style, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine and a list that grows by the day.

Marley travels the world as often as she can while juggling a burgeoning speaking career and internet companies. She and her husband, Marc, and their three very devious children all reside in Southern California.

Carolyn is the Founder and President of Tadpole Event Marketing and Consulting. She founded Tadpole over seven years ago after building a strong reputation for top-notch work as Red Bull‚s National Events Manager, effectively building what was once a relatively unknown brand into the number-one energy drink in the US. Tadpole specializes in a unique, highly impactful approach to reaching niche markets and target audiences. Tadpole understands that in a crowded marketplace, brands need to act on creative ideas consumers haven‚t seen before, and then execute on those ideas strategically and with organization.

With Tadpole, Carolyn has led the team on hundreds of projects including winning marketing campaigns around world-class athletes, bringing Toyota trucks to the fore in the action sports industry, helping FUEL TV build each season‚s advertiser base through innovative Upfront presentations, and re-introducing SALONPAS, an effective pain-relief product to over 200,000 people in the Los Angeles area (and they told two friends). Carolyn has consulted with dozens of small companies and coached individuals to help market themselves to their target audience or client.

Prior to joining Red Bull, Carolyn was a Division 1 collegiate swimmer at Northwestern University, where she received her Bachelor‚s in Communication and a Concentration in English. She currently lives in Venice with her husband, Colin, new baby girl Stella and her amazing pooch, Ernie. She is active in many causes including SMARTY, WISE, Tree People, Global Inheritance, and The Surfrider Foundation.

Christine Syquia was the co-founder and owner of charm and luck. Carried in Nordstrom, Dillard’s, Macy’s and one of the top-selling handbag brands for Home Shopping Network (HSN), charm and luck grew to be a 7-figure accessory company within 5 years of launching. charm and luck grew their company to have 3 spinoff handbag brands including the license for Zandra Rhodes. Christine now works with designers with her consulting company, Accessory Business 101, as she helps designers navigate through the maze of the fashion industry.

Dava Casoni earned her undergraduate degrees from Boston University on a U.S. Army R.O.T.C. scholarship. Graduating with a B.A. (Political Science) and B.S. (Management), she was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and attended U.S. Army Transportation Officer Basic Course at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Following her basic course, Ms. Casoni went on to Cornell Law School and earned a J.D. and LL.M. in international and comparative law, having spent a summer studying international law at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Ms. Casoni began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable James T. Turner, of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Following her tenure on the Court, Ms. Casoni was first associated with Bingham McCutchen in their business department, next with Pillsbury Law’s corporate securities group and most recently with Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy’s Global Project Finance group. Ms. Casoni’s practice at these three global firms covered a variety of matters including initial public offerings, bank and venture financings, mergers and acquisitions, project finance transactions, general corporate and securities matters. In addition, she taught entertainment law to budding film producers at American University.

She is admitted to practice law in California, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C.

Riza Ayson, co-founder of TextingForward – a mobile marketing company, has over 14 years of agency and media sales experience. She has worked for media outlets such as Tribune Television, Advanced Internet, the Newhouse Publishing Group, and Internet Broadcasting-where she was an online consultant, showing companies how to monetize their websites.

In 2007, she made the leap to mobile and started her own company along with 4 other partners. Today, TextingForward is one of the leading mobile marketing companies in the country. Their diverse client roster list includes companies such as the FIFA World Cup, Anheuser Busch, Hearst-Argyle Television, Meredith Broadcasting, the New York Marathon, Cold Stone Creamery and more.

TextingForward provides innovative platforms and mobile marketing solutions for brands big and small. We help companies connect with their consumers with innovative mobile marketing campaigns, create and capture lead generation, increase revenue and customer loyalty.

Co-Founder of Curated. Delta Wright leads the Los Angeles studio with nuts and bolts know-how while motivating the staff through her love of education, design theory and affinity for craft. Delta’s strengths and perspective combine seamlessly with those of Curated. Co-Founder Elena Frampton, resulting in a harmonious collaboration that produces inspiring results and superior design solutions.Prior to Founding Curated. Delta honed her expertise working with Clodagh Design and Blueprint66. Delta is an Allied Member of The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and a certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System Accredited Professional (LEED AP). Delta received a Masters in Interior Design from Pratt Institute and holds a B.A. from the Fine Art University of Illinois with an emphasis on Glass and Ceramics.

She is passionate about creating artful, unique spaces for living. Operating beyond the confines of trends, we are independent thinkers, adopting various perspectives to create thoughtfully composed design solutions. The Curated. design philosophy is rooted in beauty, history and artistry. We revel in exploring organization, sequencing, ornamentation and pattern. We manipulate scale, texture and detail to enhance the spatial experience. Using both tangible and intangible elements we develop a collection to relate a story that brings pleasure and purpose to environments.